


The Pirate Sticker in the Bronco

by serendipityxxi



Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-22
Updated: 2015-11-22
Packaged: 2018-05-02 19:07:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5260199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serendipityxxi/pseuds/serendipityxxi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How the pirate sticker wound up in Nathan's Bronco. (Hint: it works on the premise that Nathan and Duke were friends as teenagers)</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Pirate Sticker in the Bronco

Nathan buys the bronco the year they turn nineteen. It’s old but in that well-worn pair of jeans way. It fits him, it’s steady and reliable the same way Nathan is. Duke can’t picture Nathan with a brand new model anything, he’d probably consider it wasteful or something ridiculous like that. The Bronco is old and ugly, with only a radio not even a tape deck, but to the boys it’s freedom in a way they’ve never had before. They are giddy, planning road trips to Bangor and Portland and maybe one day they’ll drive all the way to New York and see the sights! 

In the mean time they have long summer days to spend driving with the windows rolled down and the radio on and the wind rushing past Duke’s hand where it hangs out the window. The road stretches ever onward that summer, green trees and blue sky and black top stretching out before them in the infinite until it’s time for Nathan’s shift or for Duke to go back to the jobs they don’t spend a lot of time talking about. TLC reminds them not to chase waterfalls as Duke expounds on the world tour he’s going to go on one of these days, Nathan chiming in with more tame locales, New York, New Orleans, Mt. Rushmore to Duke’s Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Timbuktu!

“Timbuktu is landlocked, you know,” Nathan chides. 

Duke is a born story teller and Nathan has always loved stories. While he’s spinning his tales Nathan feels like he’s been to the red light district and seen the blue mosque and swum in the Aegean ocean. Nathan knows he’s got a lifetime of work ahead of him, discipline and dedication are hardwired into him. It’s nice to think that someday though…

They spend a lot of time lying in the long summer grass near Tuwiowok bluff drinking beer that Duke most definitely did not use a fake ID to get while Oasis wails about wonderwalls. They spend a lot of time lying on the warm rocks of Haven’s beaches, sunning themselves like seals, getting sleek and brown with Hootie and the Blowfish blaring from the speakers. They wrestle and half drown each other regularly. Duke comes sputtering to the surface one day bleeding from a scrape garnered in their battle. Nathan cracks jokes about Duke attracting sharks as they wade out. The water is cold, even for Haven, and Nathan doesn’t notice that he’s cut his own hand until Duke sees the thin trail of blood. His eyes go wide in panic as he grabs Nathan’s hand. His warm fingers bring the cut to stinging life. Nathan flinches and they both relax. No, the unspoken shadow of the Troubles has not returned to darken their lives once more.

Nathan bitches about Duke almost severing his finger for the rest of the day but Duke doesn’t mind. They both know his complaints are there to remind them both that yes he can still feel.

Later, Duke demands a pit stop at the gas station closer to town with the cashier who hates him. Nathan grumbles but pulls over nevertheless. He fills up the gas tank on his own, Duke never chips in and Nathan never asks. They both know Duke’s barely scraping by as it is. The Chief is a lot of things but Nathan’s never had to pay rent. When he’s finished at the pump he goes inside and Duke isn’t there. He searches the whole store. When he gets back to the parking lot Duke’s sitting on his side of the Bronco with a bag from the drugstore next door, antiseptic wipes and a brand new tin of pirate themed band-aids for kids. 

“There’s a surprise in here if you’re extra good,” he says and shakes the tin, proudly displaying the _Surprise Inside_ sticker.

Nathan rolls his eyes but accepts a bandaid for his wound, the whole half inch of it. 

Duke grins at the skull and crossbones on the back of Nathan’s hand. “Ye’ve been branded, ye scallywag,” he teases. “You’ll have to come with me when I leave. Pirating’s in your blood now.”

Nathan laughs and shakes his head and fishes out a bigger bandaid for the cut on the back of Duke’s arm, dabbing the antiseptic on carefully before covering the graze. Duke hisses and whines and is in general a huge baby about the whole affair. Nathan rattles around the tin, pulls out the surprise and presents it to Duke. 

“For being so good,” Nathan snarks. 

It’s a large pirate sticker, a black background and a white skull with swords crossed below it. 

Duke laughs, peels off the backing and slaps it onto the dashboard of the bronco ignoring Nathan’s alarmed squawk.

“There, now she’s a proper mode of transport, bearing the jolly roger as a good ship should.”

“She?” Nathan quirks his eyebrow and glances around the bronco. “I hate to break it to you Duke but this truck would make the ugliest woman I can imagine.”

“I don’t know,” Duke says consideringly, “there’s Mrs. Northman from sixth grade…” 

The boys laugh and drive off. Duke adds “We’ll have to buy you a naked girl hood ornament to make her a proper pirate ship though.” 

Boyz II Men drifts back in the haze of their tail lights crooning about the water running dry.


End file.
